Atlantic Canada cleans up after TS Arthur

Thousands without power after downgraded Hurricane Arthur slams Canada

July 7, 2014

Two days after a downgraded Hurricane Arthur struck Canada’s easternmost provinces, 139,000 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia residents remain without power.

Environment Canada measured wind gusts topping 72 mph in the Halifax area, while more than 5 inches of rain had already fallen in some areas of New Brunswick.

Canadian Hurricane Center spokesman Chris Fogarty said that winds were easing, but more rainfall is predicted for already drenched southwestern New Brunswick.

The strongest wind gusts were recorded Saturday in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, at 86 mph- equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane, the Canadian Hurricane Center said. The storm caused flight cancellations and delays at the region’s largest airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In Fredericton, N.B., 45,350 customers were without power, and local fire crews fought 30 separate electrical fires after the storm, downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, passed though. Filing stations quickly ran out of gasoline, a sinkhole formed by the storm in a recreational vehicle park captured three trailers and a car, and the local utility, NB Power, said the storm created the largest electrical blackout in New Brunswick’s history.

Crews were working to restore power to nearly 140,000 customers in New Brunswick and more than 90,000 in Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island’s power utility estimates nearly 5,000 customers were without power.

“The target now is to have 80 percent of our customers restored within five days. That is quite exceptional considering the damage; 2,000 trees in Fredericton alone and we estimate tens of thousands of trees across the province,” Graetan Thomas, NB Power president, told Canada’s CBC on Monday.